Worship God Alone
"Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they were serving idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did." -- 2 Kings 17:41
Wow! Sometimes scripture just jumps off the page and screams its relevance in today's world. See anyone you know when you read that scripture? Yeah. I did too.
We show up for church most Sundays. We try to do the right thing -- until the right thing goes against what we think we want. Maybe we'll skirt the truth just a little to get that promotion we want. We'll focus on that golden ring to the exclusion of all else.
In the olden days, people claimed to worship God but they didn't destroy the pagan influences that swirled around them. So they kept falling back into bad practices, making bad decisions that led them away from God rather than toward Him.
Don't we do the same thing? We hang out with people who don't follow God. We don't worry about it because we're strong Christians. Besides, maybe they'll come to know God through us. Why would they? We're behaving exactly like they are and they don't have the added burden of guilt when they do something they shouldn't.
We focus our time on television or computer games or sports. We spend our dollars on clothes we don't need, food we shouldn't eat and cars and homes that have more to do with prestige than need. We take our eyes off Jesus and what He has called us to do. We hoard the gifts He has given us and refuse to share with people whose need is greater than ours.
We call ourselves Christians but we refuse to release the temptations that bind us to another way of life. We are trying to live our lives walking down the middle, following God but also doing what we please. It doesn't work that way. God has called us to serve Him and Him alone. That means making a choice to put Him before all the outside influences that seek to steal us away from the God who loves us.
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